Exile
by glanmire
Summary: If Jaime had been sent to the Wall for killing Aerys.
1. Chapter 1

Jaime Lannister killed the Mad King Aerys.  
Yes, it was to protect the kingdom, and of course it was for the greater good, and there was no denying that it helped Robert's Rebellion, but that did not excuse the fact.

"What would you have me do, kill the boy?" Robert snarled, and then regretted that he'd said anything.  
This newly formed emergency council blinked back at him. Ser Barristan Selmy was the first to reply. He was here speaking on behalf of the Kingsguard, and yet it was still uneasy between him and Robert. He had fought on the other side, after all.

"Your Grace, this cannot be simply ignored. This one act of murder would sully both the name and the honour of the Kingsguard forever more. I would be ashamed wear white," Selmy was saying.

Tywin kept his gaze fixated on Selmy, and he radiated a fury that Robert thought only Baratheon could possess. He knew then with certainty that a lot of those gathered here today would walk away with fattened purses if they voted that Jaime be pardoned, Tywin's unique way of saying thanks. Selmy ignored the glare and carried on about the stain on the Kingsguard, oh the shame of it. It was getting extremely repetitive.

One thing they could all agree on was that there was no precedent for this.  
Those who said he should be pardoned said it was an act that could be excused in war, and that if Jaime had killed Aerys on the battlefield, that he would be lauded as a hero.

The others argued that that was precisely the problem; he killed a man who was under his care, not an enemy on the battlefield.  
Regicide alone was a crime against the gods, and they didn't even have a word for how wrong it was for the murder to committed by one of the Kingsguard.  
The Northerners in particular were outraged. They still thought the laws of hospitality were sacred, and this was even worse again in their book.  
Ned was the only Northerner who did not openly call for Jaime's death, and even he said that he should take the black.  
Robert took a long draught of his wine. Any remark to either side would just exacerbate this fucking mess. He kept on drinking until Ned gave him a look. He knew that fucking look. He put down the goblet, and tried to pay attention.

The meeting went on for another hour like that, behead the boy, let him prance around like a good little knight. Robert honestly couldn't give a shit either way.

The midday heat was making them slow yet angry. Robert was nearly willing to just say alright kill him if it meant he could escape that damnable room when Jon Arryn saved them with the third option  
"Let Jaime take the black," he said, cutting cleanly across the most recent squabble that had broken out.

It took a lot of haggling, but the truth of it was that the Night's Watch was not too different from the Kingsguard. Life of celibacy, forsaking all claims and titles, no children and no wives. Switch the white cloak for black and there you were.  
He would rise quickly enough in the Watch, he could regain some honour.  
It was better than a beheading at least.

Cersei did not speak to Robert when they were alone for a year afterwards. She held his arm and she smiled when they were in public, but at night she lay perfectly still, cold and as unfeeling as steel.  
She resented him, and he hated her equally. Bitch whore wench. He stopped himself from saying the words but they hung in the air between them, as heavy as Robert's own crown.

What did she want him to do? Pretend nothing was amiss? Let the Kingslayer stay?  
Even Cersei, dumb bitch that she was, had to know that that was unrealistic.


	2. Cersei's Children

Cersei could not have children.  
She had fallen pregnant with Jaime's child back when they were only teenagers, before she was married. It would not do. So she braced herself, took the moon tea and nearly clawed her eyes out in sorrow as she bleed their baby out. She never told Jaime.  
She did not know if it was that that caused her to be barren, but it seemed likely.

Now and again she'd swell as Robert's seed took, and she'd get a hopeful ten to twelve weeks or so, and then she'd lose them again, her children.  
Cersei knew that she was only going to be Queen so long as they thought she could have children. If a Queen could provide no heirs, she was useless and she'd be replaced somehow. Cersei did not that think they'd kill her outright but they'd find some loop hole to let Robert marry some younger, capable lady.  
She could not let that happen. She was Cersei Lannister, Lioness of Casterly Rock and she was the Queen.

Cersei knew on some deep instinctive level that Jaime could give her a child. He had before and he could do again it, but her brother was away at the Wall, and no use to her.  
She often thought that this was the Gods way of showing her that her and Robert were not meant to be.

With no other options, she approached Littlefinger.

"I must say your Grace, I did not anticipate such a meeting. I am honoured," Littlefinger said, sounding utterly bored, as they sat in her chambers that night.  
Cersei sipped her wine demurely before she spoke.  
"Robert tells me you have quite a talent with money."  
"Did he? I'm glad to hear it your Grace. I do try."  
His gray blue eyes stared at her, silent inquiring as to the real reason why she had summoned him.  
"Leave," Cersei commanded the various handmaidens that littered the room.  
They scampered away and she waited until the door had closed behind them before she spoke again.

She stood and came over to Littlefinger's side, her golden hair sweeping around as she moved.  
"Can I trust you, Lord Baelish?" she asked softly.  
He waited a long moment before speaking.  
"King's Landing is not a place where I would recommend trusting anyone, your Grace."

She went back to her seat, annoyed.  
"I am the Queen. You are a little low-born man with no titles, no army, no leverage to speak of. If you betray me I will destroy you."  
He looked at her, almost disdainfully, and then smiled.  
"I would never dream to betray the Queen's trust."  
Cersei reckoned for all his smiles, Littlefinger would never risk his own skin, and so she slowly explained to him what she needed.

After that, she had three children.  
Robert had managed to make her quick again a few months after her and Littelfinger's chat, but this time she saw fit to actually inform the King. Normally she hid her half-pregancies, knowing she would only disappoint him when they failed.  
She also told Littlefinger, who scoured the city's brothels for a pregnant whore, which wasn't too hard to find.  
Cersei lost the child ten weeks in this time, but let nothing on. She had her handmaidens stuff the front of her robes, and refused to let Robert see her naked on the grounds that she was embarrassed by the way the pregnancy had ruined her body, and that she didn't want him seeing her like that.  
Her husband was a useless oaf, and liked his ladies young and pretty, as so was glad to ignore her and her seemingly swollen belly.

Robert went off hunting as she neared the end of her pregnancy, and when he returned, she had a beautiful baby boy in her arms.  
One whore left that day with a heavier purse, and told everyone she knew that her baby had died at birth. It was a simple arrangement, and so the king had his heir, and Cersei remained Queen.

Cersei's three children were beautiful. She named them after family, as if that somehow made them truly hers.  
Edwin was her eldest, for Robert's beloved Eddard, and her own father Tywin.  
He had dark hair and arresting brown eyes. That whore had served them well, so Cersei got two other children by her, who were both brown-eyed like their brother, but what did that matter?  
Tyanna's name was mix of Cassana, who was Robert's late mother, and Joanna, her own mother, and Tyrion, her hideous younger brother. Tyanna was so beautiful Cersei often thought she must be hers truly. She wondered how some common whore had such perfect children.  
Her youngest was called Jai for her twin, and she loved him the most.

Littlefinger came to her years later, when Edwin was twelve.  
"Your Grace, you asked me to come to you if I ever heard that anyone was curious about our little arrangement."  
She waited but he didn't elaborate. "Yes, yes, out with it then."  
"Well, I have been told that the King's Hand, Jon Arryn, is asking why the King's three children have brown eyes when Robert has blue eyes and his wife green?"  
Cersei stared at him blankly, and then understood.  
"Will he find out?" she whispered.  
Littlefinger titled his head. "That is difficult to say, your Grace, but the consequences would be most unfortunate."  
That could not be allowed happen. Cersei wished Jaime were there. He would kill anyone who dared question her.  
But her twin was at the Wall, and she did not know what to do next.


End file.
